Grade+11+Mod+2

READING CLOSELY AND ANALYZING THE USE OF RHETORIC TO SUPPORT A CLAIM

Essential Question
toc How do author’s use rhetoric to support a claim?

Before students can tackle this complex question, they must first be able to understand the following: What is rhetoric?


 * How do authors (and speakers) use rhetoric?
 * How is rhetoric used?
 * When is rhetoric used?
 * How can we use specific strategies to analyze rhetoric?
 * What are the main rhetorical appeals?
 * What are rhetorical devices and strategies?
 * How do rhetorical appeals and strategies help authors support their arguments?
 * What is a claim?
 * How do claims contribute to an overall argument?
 * How can we, as writers, use rhetoric to support our own arguments and claims?

As students move through the lessons, activities, worksheets, and strategies included below, they should be able to provide answers to the above questions.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Put simply, rhetoric is the art of persuasion. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">This slideshow, which is an excellent introduction to rhetoric and rhetorical appeals, defines rhetoric as:
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">What is rhetoric? **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">“…the Art of Persuasive Language -- Writers and speakers use rhetoric to convince readers and listeners to do something or to think something. **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Think of every time you want to get your way. You are using rhetoric without knowing it!” **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Guided notes for students to complete while viewing this slideshow.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">As students move through this slideshow and take notes, not only will they learn about rhetoric, the Aristotelian Triangle, and the appeals of ethos, logos, and pathos, but they will also learn how these elements apply to real world situations of communication and argumentation. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">An excellent example of rhetoric comes from the website American Rhetoric. It illustrates how rhetoric can be used to alter a claim and even alter versions of truth. In general, American Rhetoric is an amazing site filled with speeches from important figures throughout American history. This activity, however, is a short yet potent way to get students to see power of rhetoric and the manipulation of language.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Activity
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">[]
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">American Rhetoric **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">The Power of Language Activity **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Dennis Rodman and the Art of the (Metaphoric) Screen <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">You are about to experience truth -- someone's version of it. Several years ago a now-infamous incident occurred in the world of professional basketball. The participants included a basketball player, a referee, a cadre of players and coaches, and ten thousand or so fans. You are about to read two different accounts (or versions) of the same incident. You will likely see some differences between them, although the differences lay not so much in matters of "fact" as in the strategic use of metaphors and other rhetorical devices by which each account is given its particular rhetorical character. As you read them, consider the effect that each version is likely to have on audiences who did not actually witness the event(s), and, who experienced only a single written version. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Chicago Bulls forward Dennis Rodman faces yet another suspension by the NBA for his dangerous tirade in Saturday night's game at Chicago. Rodman was ejected with 1:31 left in the first quarter after receiving his second technical foul. Rodman then proceeded to head-butt referee Ted Bernhardt, catching him just above the left eye. In typical fashion, Rodman then ripped off his shirt and stormed around the court, pausing briefly to knock over a water cooler in front of a group of stunned young boys before finally leaving. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Chicago Bulls forward Dennis Rodman faces a suspension by the NBA for his wild and theatrical behavior in Saturday night's game at New Jersey. Rodman was given his notice of leave with 1:31 left in the first quarter of Saturday's game after receiving his second technical foul. Rodman appeared to have bumped an official during a heated discussion over the foul. Consistent with past heroics, and to the delight of the Chicago faithful, Rodman then removed his shirt as he paraded around the court before finally exiting stage left into his team's locker room. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">So, is Rodman a Lunatic or some kind of Anti-Hero? Let's look closer. Put on your "Metaphoric Goggles" and view each version as a professional rhetorician or "wordsmith" would. Might as well; the folks who wrote these versions are counting on you not to use them. It would give too much of their trade away. Go ahead. Be a rebel.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Phase #1: **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Screen Version #1 **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Screen Version #2 **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Phase #2: **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Terministic Goggles On! **
 * **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Screen Version #1 **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Chicago Bulls forward Dennis Rodman faces yet another suspension by the NBA for his **[dangerous tirade]** in Saturday night's game at Chicago. Rodman was **[ejected]** with 1:31 left in the first quarter after receiving his second technical foul. Rodman then proceeded to **[head-butt]** referee Ted Bernhardt, catching him just above the left eye. **[In typical fashion]**, Rodman **[ripped off]** his shirt and **[stormed]** around the court, pausing briefly to knock over a water cooler in front of a group of stunned young boys before finally **[leaving]** the court. ||


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Terministic Goggles On! **
 * **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Screen Version #2 **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Chicago Bulls forward Dennis Rodman faces a suspension by the NBA for his **[wild and theatrical behavior]** in Saturday night's game at Chicago. Rodman was **[given his notice of leave]** with 1:31 left in the first quarter after receiving his second technical foul. Rodman appeared to have **[bumped]** an official during a heated discussion over foul. **[Consistent with past heroics]** and to the delight of the Chicago faithful, Rodman then **[removed]** his shirt as he **[paraded]** around the court before finally **[exiting stage left]** into his team's locker room. ||


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Dennis Rodman and the Art of the (Metaphoric) Screen **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Phase #3: **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">So, you've seen how language acts as a filter or "screen" through which truth is both colored and experienced. Language screens filter truth in the way that different shades of glasses filter light. Consider, then, in light of what you've seen, the following questions:

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">#1: Is there really such a thing as "pure truth" when considered in light of how humans use and abuse language?"

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">#2: Is the "truth" merely a matter of "reporting" the "facts?"

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">#3: Had you been an eyewitness, would your version of this drama constitute the truth? On which view of/from language?


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">__Rhetorical Lesson:__ Whatever counts as truth is, in part, a function of the way we use language to exert persuasive (i.e., rhetorical) influence over others. Truth, in this view, is both process and product of our rhetorical practices. **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">This is a worksheet (for the above lesson) that even includes a student activity at the end.

Strategy

 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">SOAPSTone **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Another basic strategy we can use to help students begin their exploration into the world of rhetoric and rhetorical analysis is the SOAPSTone method.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">**S**peaker

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">**O**ccasion

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">**A**udience

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">**P**urpose

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">**S**ubject

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">**T**one

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">An article by an AP teacher Ogden Morse (link provided and text reproduced below), published on the College Board's AP Central, does a good job of explaining the SOAPSTone method of analysis.


 * Who is the __S__peaker? **


 * The voice that tells the story. **** Before students begin to write, they must decide whose voice is going to be heard. Whether this voice belongs to a fictional character or to the writers themselves, students should determine how to insert and develop those attributes of the speaker that will influence the perceived meaning of the piece. **


 * What is the ****__ O __**** ccasion? **


 * The time and the place of the piece; the context that prompted the writing **** . Writing does not occur in a vacuum. All writers are influenced by the //larger occasion//: an environment of ideas, attitudes, and emotions that swirl around a broad issue. Then there is the //immediate occasion//: an event or situation that catches the writer's attention and triggers a response. **


 * Who is the ****__ A __**** udience? **


 * The group of readers to whom this piece is directed. **** As they begin to write, students must determine who the audience is that they intend to address. It may be one person or a specific group. This choice of audience will affect how and why students write a particular text. **


 * What is the ****__ P __**** urpose? **


 * The reason behind the text. **** Students need to consider the purpose of the text in order to develop the thesis or the argument and its logic. They should ask themselves, "What do I want my audience to think or do as a result of reading my text?" **


 * What is the ****__ S __**** ubject? **


 * Students should be able to state the subject in a few words or phrases **** . This step helps them to focus on the intended task throughout the writing process. **


 * What is the ****__ T __**** one? **


 * The attitude of the author. **** The spoken word can convey the speaker's attitude and thus help to impart meaning through tone of voice. With the written word, it is tone that extends meaning beyond the literal, and students must learn to convey this tone in their diction (choice of words), syntax (sentence construction), and imagery (metaphors, similes, and other types of figurative language). The ability to manage tone is one of the best indicators of a sophisticated writer. **

Here is a link to a generic SOAPSTone analysis worksheet that can be used for just about any text.

Once students become comfortable completing the above worksheet for a variety of texts, they can move to this next worksheet which requires students to include textual evidence (and which is therefore a bit more involved).

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Resources

 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Further Strategies and Resources for Analyzing Rhetoric **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">This link supplies a very simple and straightforward WikiHow on how to write a rhetorical analysis. It will also reinforce the process (or steps) students can take to complete an analysis. Furthermore, it also reinforces the appeals of ethos, logos, and pathos.


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Resource/Worksheet: **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">[]

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">This link/resource, from Writing and Speaking Services, provides a reasonably in depth but easy to understand explanation of rhetorical analysis. It even includes a generic worksheet that can be used for any text.


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Resource: **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Here is a page from the University of Richmond's Writing Center which provides further reinforcement of rhetorical appeals, the rhetorical triangle, and rhetorical analysis in general. Feel free to click the links in the sidebar, since the website has an abundance of useful resources.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Analysis

 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Analyzing Purpose **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">In order for students to adequately analyze how an author uses rhetoric to support a claim, they must develop the skills necessary for identifying and analyzing an author’s purpose. One way to begin developing these skills is by having students work through the following questions for **every text** they read. These questions can apply to a newspaper article, a poem, a novel, a short story, a letter, an essay, a speech, a play, song lyrics, and even nontraditional writing like graffiti:


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Why did the author write this text? In other words, what is the author trying to get through to his or her readers? What does the author want his/her readers to come away with understanding, realizing, and/or believing? How do you know this? What evidence from the text points to the author’s intentions in writing this piece? **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Once students can formulate accurate responses to these questions, they are ready to focus on how specific details from the text contribute to, develop, and/or reinforce the overall purpose of a text.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Again, it is imperative to begin requiring students to encounter these questions and questions like these for every single text they read. After reading a poem with the class, have them work through these questions. After reading a short story, have them work through these questions. After reading a newspaper editorial, have them work through these questions. Not only are these the types of questions found on the NYS Common Core English Regents, but they are also vital for deciphering **how authors use rhetoric to support a claim.**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">More importantly, though, by having students focus on questions like these, they will begin to see how they (themselves), as writers, can use rhetorical strategies, techniques, and appeals to help strengthen their own writing. That is, they will begin to see writing as a series of deliberate “moves” which are used to achieve an intended purpose.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Analyzing Claim

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Part of analyzing purpose entails determining an author’s claim or claims. Students should also be able to cite the specific evidence an author uses to support a claim along with other rhetorical strategies, devices, and techniques he/she uses to reinforce or develop the overall argument and purpose of a given text.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">This slideshow offers an extremely well laid out explanation of the concept of analysis, in particular, the concept of analyzing claims. It even breaks down the analysis process into easy to follow steps.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Valencia Communications Center offers this useful resource (text and link to handouts below) which breaks down the terms claim, evidence, and warrant, and uses a well-known cartoon character to show how these terms/concepts work in action. Here is the text from the resource, but please notice the link which follows. It presents the info on printable handouts, and it even includes a student worksheet.


 * A <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">nalysis Explanation **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Analyzing is different from summarizing. In a summary, the goal is to retell only the **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">main ideas and relevant supporting details of a piece. In an analysis, the goal is to make **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">an interpretation of a piece and explain why you believe the way that you do about it. **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">When supporting your idea about a work, you must make sure that you supply valid **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">reasons for your interpretation from the work itself or from other reliable outside sources. **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">There are three important parts to an analysis: the claim, the evidence, and the warrant. **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">1) The claim is your interpretation of the work. It is what you’re trying to prove. **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">2) The evidence is the text from within the work or from reliable sources that **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">support your interpretation. You usually want to supply several pieces of **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">evidence so that your support is solid and, therefore, yields more credibility to **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">your claim. The evidence can be quoted, paraphrased, or summarized. No **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">matter how you choose to present the text, just make sure that you cite your **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">source(s). **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">3) Lastly, the warrant is the explanation of why or how the evidence proves your **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> claim. This part of the analysis is really where critical thinking is applied. You **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> must make sure that you don’t just repeat the evidence but thoroughly explain **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> to your audience why it supports your interpretation. It helps if you think about **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> each piece of evidence and ask yourself: why or how does this prove my claim? **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">The following is an example of how to analyze a work using the three aforementioned **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">parts – claim, evidence, and warrant: **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Claim: **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Dora the Explorer is an educational T.V. show for kids. **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Evidence 1 (text example): **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">First, Dora often uses colors and numbers to communicate various pieces of **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">information to her young audience. **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Evidence 2 (text example): **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Second, the show uses simple words in English and Spanish to help unfold **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">the plot. **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Evidence 3 (text example): **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Last, Dora often sings throughout each episode about tasks she is to **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Complete. **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Warrant (Why or how does the evidence prove the claim?): **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">The use of color and numbers helps prepare kids for the early stages of **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">learning in preschool and kindergarten. Early exposure to these basics units **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">of knowledge helps prepare children for their first few years in an **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">educational setting. Additionally, the use of two languages in the show helps **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">create young bilingual speakers. Early exposure to multiple languages will **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">help prepare kids for the more intensive language lessons they will **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">experience during high school and college. Last but not least, making songs **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">out of the new information presented in the show helps kids remember, thus **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">ensuring that the new knowledge is actually acquired and retained. In short, **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Dora the Explorer introduces a plethora of information that kids will use **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">throughout their learning careers. Hence, the show provides the early seeds **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">of learning that will be used and built upon for a lifetime. **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Rhetorical Appeals, Devices, Strategies, and Techniques **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">As students become more comfortable and proficient at rhetorical analysis, they will begin to notice patterns or strategies that authors and speakers tend to use. Here are a couple of straightforward handouts which include lists of basic rhetorical strategies and terms. Students should be encouraged to include these terms, if applicable, into their written analyses of any of the suggested assignments above or which follow below.


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Basic Rhetorical Strategies Handouts: **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Basic Rhetorical Strategies

A List of Rhetorical Devices

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Please make students aware that this is a fairly incomplete list. That is, if they were to further pursue their studies into rhetorical analysis, they would encounter hundreds of other rhetorical devices, techniques, and strategies. However, for the purposes of this unit, these lists are more than enough.

Assessments

 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Further Activities and Assessments **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Have students read and analyze the arguments and rhetorical appeals in Sojourner Truth's short speech Ain't I a Woman?. After they have completed some of the above worksheets and activities for the speech, have them create a Prezi in which they explain and analyze how Truth uses of rhetorical appeals, devices, and strategies to achieve her purpose.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Have students read and analyze the arguments and rhetorical appeals in Dr. Martin Luther King's Letter from Birmingham Jail. Note: This is a rather long and sophisticated letter, so this activity can be completed as a multi-week unit, or excerpts from the letter can be used for individualized lessons. For example, for a shorter activity of approximately two to three days, students can read the clergymen's letter to King in order to explicate their claims and then read and analyze the first four or five paragraphs of King's response to the clergymen. This text is particularly effective for analyzing counterargument/rebuttal and rhetorical appeals. After they have completed some of the above worksheets and activities, have them create a Prezi, write an analysis essay, or give a presentation in which they explain and analyze how King uses of rhetorical appeals, devices, and strategies to achieve his purpose.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Many Uniondale High School 11th grade English teachers teach Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire, however, we often overlook Williams's excellent essay included at the beginning of the book. In A Streetcar Named Success, Williams confesses his struggles with fame and "success." It is worth analyzing for its perspective and claims, writing style and use of language, and its bleak and honest tone. After reading A Streetcar Named Desire and completing some research on the author, students should read and analyze Williams's essay while completing some of the above worksheets in groups.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Common Core Standards
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Determine two or more central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to provide a complex analysis; provide an objective summary of the text. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Analyze a complex set of ideas or sequence of events and explain how specific individuals, ideas, or events interact and develop over the course of the text.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Key Ideas and Details **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.1 **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.2 **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.3 **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze how an author uses and refines the meaning of a key term or terms over the course of a text (e.g., how Madison defines faction in Federalist No. 10).
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Craft and Structure **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.4 **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text in which the rhetoric is particularly effective, analyzing how style and content contribute to the power, persuasiveness, or beauty of the text. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Introduce precise, knowledgeable claim(s), establish the significance of the claim(s), distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and create an organization that logically sequences claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Develop claim(s) and counterclaims fairly and thoroughly, supplying the most relevant evidence for each while pointing out the strengths and limitations of both in a manner that anticipates the audience's knowledge level, concerns, values, and possible biases. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Use words, phrases, and clauses as well as varied syntax to link the major sections of the text, create cohesion, and clarify the relationships between claim(s) and reasons, between reasons and evidence, and between claim(s) and counterclaims. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Establish and maintain a formal style and objective tone while attending to the norms and conventions of the discipline in which they are writing. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Text Types and Purposes **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.1 **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.1.B **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.1.C **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.1.D **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.1.E **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Determine two or more central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to provide a complex analysis; provide an objective summary of the text.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">NYS ELA Standards from EngageNY **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">RI.11-12.2 **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">b. Develop the topic thoroughly by selecting the most significant and relevant facts, extended definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples appropriate to the audience’s knowledge of the topic. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">d. Use precise language, domain-specific vocabulary, and techniques such as metaphor, simile, and analogy to manage the complexity of the topic. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">e. Establish and maintain a formal style and objective tone while attending to the norms and conventions of the discipline in which they are writing.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">W.11-12.2.b, d, e **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">b. Apply grades 11-12 Reading standards to literary nonfiction (e.g., “Delineate and evaluate the reasoning in seminal U.S. texts, including the application of constitutional principles and use of legal reasoning [e.g., in U.S. Supreme Court majority opinions and dissents] and the premises, purposes, and arguments in works of public advocacy [e.g., The Federalist, presidential addresses]”).
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">W.11-12.9.b **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">L.11-12.4.a **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grades 11–12 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">a. Use context (e.g., the overall meaning of a sentence, paragraph, or text; a word’s position or function in a sentence) as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">RI.11-12.6 **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text in which the rhetoric is particularly effective, analyzing how style and content contribute to the power, persuasiveness, or beauty of the text.